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PZ
Dossier
Creator of PGPCypherpunk movement✓ Verified
Phil Zimmermann
Put strong encryption in ordinary hands.
Known as Phil ZimmermannActive Jun 1991 →
Why they matter
Zimmermann proved an individual could ship strong cryptography to the world against state resistance. That precedent — code as a tool of freedom — is the cultural bedrock Bitcoin was built on.
Profile
Cryptographer who released Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) in 1991, the first strong, widely-available email encryption — and then spent years under U.S. criminal investigation for it, a defining battle of the Crypto Wars the cypherpunks rallied around.